Welcome back to Line Sheet, and happy Couture Week, the equivalent to the end of the fiscal year in fashion-industry terms. Come September, everything starts all over again, so make sure to squeeze in a holiday—four weeks or two days, depending on where you live—before then.

As promised, I’ve kept things short and (relatively) sweet in recognition of Independence Day, but I’ll be back on Thursday fully loaded. This year, I’m sparing you my thoughts on reshoring (LMAO), and sharing these instead:

• That Beautiful Dark Twisted CharnYe Fantasy: Unsurprisingly, I received a ton of feedback on my story about Kanye “Ye” West and American Apparel founder Dov Charney’s budding business relationship. (In short: Charney, who has done business with West for years, is now essentially running Yeezy.) There were a few people who were simply annoyed that I wrote about these two questionable characters, but others felt I underplayed West’s talent as a designer.

  To me, he’s a better stylist than a designer, who may be better at identifying commercial talent than anyone else working right now. More importantly, one reader, who works at the intersection or entertainment and media, highlighted his bounceback potential. “If he came out with something that people liked, it would do well,” this person wrote. “People still wear a lot of Yeezys, I see them all the time.”

  They also reminded me that the U.S. is hardly the only important market anymore, and that there’s less awareness of the specifics of West’s offenses in China, for example. (To wit: Kering C.E.O. François-Henri Pinault said back in February that the Balenciaga scandal, which severely impacted sales in the U.S., created no reaction in Asian markets.”) But I stick to my original question: Can he make something good at this point? “The jury’s still out on that,” the reader said.

Of course, Celine can afford such a sidestep—and more importantly, the show was taking place in Saint-Denis, a suburb, where the protests were more intense. Some other small events were canceled, and the big groups had considered canceling everything, according to my sources in Paris.

But whether or not any other fashion houses postpone or cancel their shows this Couture Week, which officially started today and runs through Thursday, July 6, will depend on activity in the streets. On Sunday, both Patou and Alaïa, which took place on yet another bridge—Paris’s new favorite way to stage a runway—were able to move ahead. Funny how real life keeps getting in the way of the shows, though.

I spent nearly a decade of my life documenting Outdoor Voices’ rise, Haney’s ouster as C.E.O., her brief return, and the brand’s attempts to scale once again under serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Ashley Merrill. The gist was that Haney developed a billion-dollar concept, from the color-blocked leggings (copied a thousand times over) to that brilliant “Doing Things” slogan. But she didn’t have the business acumen to see it through, and the people around her weren’t particularly helpful. She also didn’t own that much of the company in the first place, which meant she had very little governance over what happened to it. (If you compare Outdoor Voices to Alo Yoga, which has succeeded where OV failed, you can see how years of relevant business experience can be beneficial.)

Anyway, I reached out to Haney, who’s moved onto Web3 and CBD in recent years, to see if she wanted to explain why she feels the urge to even bother and comment on these posts. She hasn’t responded yet, but as someone who personally can’t keep her mouth shut, I do understand. The last time I checked in on OV, the company was trying to raise more money, and had shored up sales through paid marketing and a broadening of the once fairly high-minded aesthetic. Whether or not that’s working… The fundraising deck I saw last year indicated that the business was growing, but that it was still not profitable on an EBITDA basis.

Here’s the final twist: On the morning of July 2, Haney tweeted, “To zero, and we redo.” Could that mean she’s getting Outdoor Voices back? Last year, she expressed to me the desire to make activewear again, but my instinct was that she would want to start all over. Outdoor Voices still has name recognition among a certain set of people, but it feels like that ship has sailed—brand affinity never sunk in deeply enough for it to warrant a proper revival.

In other news, I suggest you check out Haney’s fly fishing photoshoot on Forbes right now. (Seems to be some sort of sponcon.) While most friends were feeding me that tweet, a member of the Haney hive requested a thousand words on her square-tip French mani. I’ll keep it shorter than that: Whatever you want to say about Haney, she’s something of a futurist. Get ready to trade in your Essie Clambake for a white-tip pen.

I’m sure stuff like this happens in the U.K. all the time: Because of the stop-and-start nature of cash flow in the fashion industry, many indie brands are constantly behind on payments. (I’d say it’s more common to see something like what happened with Christopher Kane, where he came out and said that he was going to go bankrupt if he didn’t find a new investor.) But here’s why this particular case is interesting:

• In an effort, I suppose, to offer some positive news, the company shared its sales figures, which show that annual revenue reached £5.1 million in 2022, up from £3.7 million a year earlier. They also said they were profitable in 2022, although it’s clear they are talking about operating profit and not factoring in the long-term leverage on the business. But anyway, this is a representation of how small these indie brands actually are. The Vampire’s Wife has incredible stockists, is worn by all the celebrities, etcetera, and it’s still just a dot on the fashion map.
• The majority owner of The Vampire’s Wife is Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics, which he and Dr. Dre sold to Apple in 2014 for $3 billion. (His wife, the model Liberty Ross, was a customer, and they decided to invest in it together, according to the reporting I did back in 2020.) “Susie [Cave] is as much of an artist as the great women I’ve worked with, including Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith,” Iovine told me at the time. While Iovene and Ross still own the business, they have no plans to invest in it further, I’m told.
• So, what happened? Along with The Vampire’s Wife rep, I reached out to Iovine, as well as Leonardo Lawson, who was the president of The Vampire’s Wife at the time of the investment and now sits on the company’s board. (Lawson, who owns a recruiting firm, Bond Creative, was at one point president of Yeezy Gap as well.) I did manage to get a hold of Lawson, who emphasized that The Vampire’s Wife is not going out of business. “It’s growing and we’re confident in its ability to continue to grow,” he said. After the company’s government trial on July 12, it’ll likely get on a payment plan to pay those taxes back.

Last Monday, the notes handed out at the Marc Jacobs runway show in New York were written by ChatGPT. (The whole presentation was a commentary on society’s need for speed, with models zipping through the hallway of the New York Public Library in something like three minutes—most shows go for at least 10 minutes, usually more.) Jacobs, the man, has commented on the emptiness of show notes in the past, so this is an iteration of that. He’s the ultimate Gen X designer in many ways—irony obsessed. (Also: I loved the collection.)

Later in the week, the French indie magazine Exhibition released its latest issue, featuring a spread conceived by the photographer Guido Mocafico, who used A.I. to illustrate a bottle of Chanel No. 5. Mocafico, whose photographs often mimic the composition of a Flemish still-life painting, guided the A.I. to take a similar approach. (In one image, a tangle of snakes is suffocating the very recognizable vessel. In another, a jellyfish is blooming out from the bottleneck.) The A.I. didn’t recreate the Chanel logo itself, although I’m told that while Chanel didn’t sponsor the spread, Mocafico did receive the brand’s blessing.

You should look at the images on Exhibition’s Instagram account. I was not particularly struck by them, but I was also not revolted the way I have been before by images created with Midjourney. There’s something about A.I.-generated art that makes my stomach turn, but at some point, as these models get smarter, it will be harder to detect. What both these examples underscore is that A.I. is perhaps most effective—more interesting, anyway—when there’s a layer of humanity painted on. Maybe we’re not doomed after all?

I enjoyed Suzy Menkes’ review of Pieter Mulier’s latest effort at Alaïa: “He brought nobility, elegance and fine cutting to a name, more often presented as sexy and seductive…the designer succeeded this season in taking the brand forward, and by putting a focus on women—rather than from a male vision.” [Instagram]

Here’s what came out of that BI story on Something Navy. I swear I reported this like, three weeks ago? Am I misremembering? Shrug. [WWD]

Yes! An oral history of Paper magazine. Good job, Ortved. [NY Times]

Expect more beauty acquisitions, especially in fragrance and skincare, says Rachel Strugatz. [BoF]

When is JJJJound gonna get The New Yorker treatment? [Twitter]

“Ephemeral” is fashion’s new favorite marketing buzzword, replacing “pop-up” or “temporary.” Givenchy is opening an “ephemeral” shop on Rodeo Drive in July. Last year, Chanel opened an “ephemeral beauty workshop” in Austin. I guess it does make it sound more magical? [Inbox]

Love what Tommy Ton captured outside the Alaïa show. [Instagram]

Sick of Barbie Pink (otherwise known as Pantone 219 C) yet? No matter, I highly recommend this overview of Mattel’s intellectual property strategy. [The New Yorker]

Extreme bummer that Tiina, a very special store opened by ultimate industry insider Tiina Laakkonen just over a decade ago in Amagansett, is closing. Where else to get Arts and Sciences and Nanna Pause in one place? I do not know. Noodle Stories? [Instagram]